Althought the name could make you think of something huge and scary, the muddy volcanoes, are actually some conic elevations , simillar to cones with the tip oriented upwards. These cones are formed at the surface of the earth , due to the eruption of the natural gases that can be found in the soil. Coming from the underground , the gases make their way to the surface , pushing up the water and the mud found in their way. In the area that the gases burst into surface , they release a brimstone smell , and the water and mud gush into conical layers . This is a rare phenomenon in the world , that can be found in the subcarpathian area in Romania, more accurate in the Buzau area.

 

The Muddy Volcanos area has been declared a natural monument since 1924, being the only area in Europe where this phenomenon can be seen. Similar sites can be found in Siberia and Australia.

 

In the north-est part of the higlands there are 20ha, of these muddy volcanoes dominated by 3 big volcanoes in the center of the plane.The diameter of each of these volcanoes is over 100m. Craters and long streams of purple mud mixed with mineral oil ofte appear on the long skirts of the volcanoes.

 

Everything that surrounds this area looks like a wasteland territory. A lot of tourists have described the volcano area as being similar to the a selenian landscape.

 

In this habitat, flooded by mud and covered in a thick layer of solidified mud , only a few trees manage to survive , just a few steps away from the craters. Marvellously in this inhospitable land two very rare palnts succed in growing : Nitraria schoberi and Obione verrucifera . This miracle is due to the fact that these two are halofil plants, meaning that they need a salty environment to grow, because they use the salts in the soil for photosynthesis. These two plants are protected by the Romanian law, and they are one of the main resons that made the Government declare the volcano area a natural reservation.